Hellofellows! I live in CR so any specific questions just shoot! One advice is to rent a car and drive around, don't just stay in Tamarindo. That place is also infested with pickpockets so watch your stuff.
If you're planning to visit the Lake Arenal area; I know this really nice place for some wakeboarding
You'll have a great time whatever you do, so ENJOY!

I spent a week in Tamarindo earlier this year. We didn't do much outside of Tamarindo - although we did some canyoneering and ziplining - which was ok. I really enjoyed seven days of surfing. We had amazing weather and good surf while I was there. Tamarindo is a small surf community - pretty good night life on Fri/Sat and loved every meal we had in town.

Locals were friendly and most spoke pretty good english. If I was to do it again I would only spend a couple days in Tamarindo and explored more of the country.

Love Tamarindo. We stayed there (actually a house in Langosta) a couple of years back and still one of our favourite trips despite being robbed. I later found out they are sometimes called Kleptoricans. LOL.

We surfed a lot. We rented from Kelly's surf shop on the main drag and got lessons with Jonathan.

Lots of great food, great people and great fishing. We also went to Avenallas and a couple other beaches.

My wife went there a few years ago (I had to work) But she said that Arenal was amazing. There is supposedly a Hot Waterfall near Arenal? I will ask her later but said it was the highlight of the trip. I had 2 of my best friends living there for a year, the stories they told me are insane. My wife and I are hoping to get down there for Thanksgiving this year

I lived in Guatemala Belize and Honduras when I was 20 for about a year and a half, I am fluent in Spanish and I know all the dirty tricks in the book. I'm not taking my gear because it's heavy and I don't really wanna deal with it.

You should add time 25% to any driving because the large trucks/busses single lane roads/mtns. and of course the 35mph speed limit on their international hwy. I received 2 tickets within a 5 hour road trip between tamarindo and San Jose. The 2nd stop was total extortion with it costing my last US $150, they asked me to put it in my passport and hand it to them, I declined and said no go ahead and take me to jail and impound the car, the decided to take the $ out of my hand instead. Just saying heads up on Johnny law.

I have confirmation from the wife that there are a bunch of hot springs in the Arenal area...put it on the list to do...she said its amazing. She was also none too happy in the fact that i informed her that there is wakeboarding in Lake Arenal....hahaha guess where i will be at least for a bit on one of my excursion days when we get there

Hola, haven't been online much the last week or so. Regarding hot springs: There's a whole bunch close to La Fortuna/Arenal volcano. The springs is new and luxurious, Tabacon the most beautiful and most popular. There's a whole bunch more. All of them are nice,especially after a day of riding!
San Jose - Tamarindo will take longer than 4 hours, probably closer to 6. Flying into Liberia is much more convenient when you're planning to go to Tamarindo.
On the Panamericana and other bigger roads always obey speed limits. Even if you do so they might stop you in your obvious rental car and make up stuff so you'll pay them something. If they ask for $150 or whatever other amount, just tell them you only have $20 or $40 with you. Such an amount normally does the trick. Make sure you don't have hundreds of $$ in your wallet when they ask for your license...

If anyone is planning to visit the Arenal area and would like to trade a set for bringing down some stuff let me know! Always looking for people to bring goods from the US.